1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to content rating devices and, more particularly, to a portable device with dedicated controls for rating audio/video contents.
2. Description of the Related Art
The explosive growth of the Internet has fundamentally changed the way audio contents are delivered to consumers. Traditional radio or TV broadcasting, i.e. the transmission of contents using analog radio waves, will soon be supplanted by a variety of programming distributed over the Internet where the consumers can now “tune” to numerous “channels” (i.e., Web sites). However, the number of choices will far exceed their ability to identify those channels using known user interface.
There exists a class of Web-based solutions known as automated collaborative filtering (ACF). A Web server executing the ACF collects preference information from various users concerning certain products and services and stores the information in a database. The Web server then identifies users with similar preferences and provides recommendations to an individual one of those identified users concerning products and services interested by the other identified users. For example, an online shopper selecting books from a Web site can be provided with recommendations concerning other books bought by people who are also interested in the books selected by the online shopper. However, known ACF systems are ill-suited for portable media players.
There is thus a need for a portable rating apparatus for rating audio/video contents downloaded from the Internet.